INVESTIGADORES
ARENA alejandro pablo
artículos
Título:
Determination of regional acidification factors for Argentina
Autor/es:
CIVIT, BÁRBARA; ARENA, AP; ALLENDE, D
Revista:
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
Editorial:
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
Referencias:
Lugar: HEIDELBERG; Año: 2012 p. 1 - 18
ISSN:
0948-3349
Resumen:
Purpose In the last decade, the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a tool for selection between different technologies or products fulfilling the same function has spread rapidly in Latin American countries. However, this accelerated growth in the use of LCA has not always been supported with progress in construction of local inventories or the development of impact assessment methods that consider local and regional characteristics of the sites where technologies, products, and activities or services are being produced or developed. The aim of this study is to propose a local methodology to estimate regional factors for the terrestrial acidification impact category in Argentina based on the critical load exceedance in sensitive areas. Material and methods Acidification factors for ecological regions in Argentina were calculated following a procedure that compares acidic deposition with critical loads, using a linear function to represent the damage, when the deposition is above the soil buffering capacity. The acidic deposition in the study area was estimated using the air transport model wind trajectory model, with emissions from the global inventory EDGAR. Detailed soil mapswere used in order to include the acidification sensitivity of the receiving ecosystems. Also, an application case of the calculated factors is presented in order discuss the relevance of the regional factors implementation in local studies. Results and discussion Deposition fluxes were estimated for different ecoregions in Argentina. The regional factors calculated differ from site-generic factors used commonly to estimate potential impacts, demonstrating that their use in local studies could lead to erroneous outcomes. This was more evident in the application case, where the potential impact calculated was very different, depending on the impact factor used. Conclusions and recommendations The model presented in this study allows the assessment of the impact caused by deposition of acidifying substances emitted during the life cycle of a product or process, taking into account the local characteristics where the intervention occurs, and it is the first development of a regional model for acidification within the LCA context carried out in Argentina. The obtained results highlight the importance of developing regional characterization factors for local or regional impacts referred to a definite region.